“Saluting 60 years of rock rebellion.” The Who’s 60th anniversary to be celebrated by special Royal Mail stamps set
· louderBy Paul Brannigan
( Classic Rock )
published 3 October 2024
The Royal Mail is issuing 12 special stamps in honour of The Who’s formation in 1964
The Royal Mail is marking the 60th anniversary of The Who's formation by issuing 12 special stamps “saluting 60 years of rock rebellion.”
Eight of the 12 stamps feature some of the band’s most iconic album covers, from 1965's My Generation through to 2019's WHO, while the remaining four stamps feature iconic promo shots of the band and live images.
The full list of featured albums is My Generation (1965), Tommy (1969), Who’s Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), Who Are You (1978), Face Dances (1981), Endless Wire (2006) and WHO (2019).
Acknowledging the honour, guitarist Pete Townshend says: “Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! It’s what I’ve done on stage all my life, sometimes in the air. At last, my stamping, and that of my buddy Roger, has been honoured properly, and will help letters, parcels and birthday cards travel through time and space, just as we have.”
Vocalist Roger Daltrey adds, “The artwork on the album sleeves was almost as important to the success of the record as the music. It’s great to be reminded of them.”
The stamps and an accompanying range of collectibles are available to pre-order from today, October 3, here.
Other British musical artists to be honoured with their own Royal Mail stamp sets include The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Iron Maiden and The Spice Girls.
Talking in August about the future of The Who, Pete Townshend admitted, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen with The Who.”
He continued, “I’m hoping Roger [Daltrey] and I can find some common ground and find some way to work again, possibly without an orchestra, because I think we’ve done that. But also, there’s this sense that we’re in the last tour period of our career. Are we just hoping to do what Bob Dylan does and just keep going?
“I’m encouraged by seeing what Roger’s doing in his solo tour. It seems to me that if we put a small band together and just decided to throw shit at the wall, it might be great. But Roger and I don’t converse. We don’t talk. So, it might be difficult to land on something that we both share an interest in. But it’s there for the taking, I think.”
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Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder
A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.
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